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Sunday, 09 September 2007 |
Click the "more" for rider quotes from racing action in Germany and check out the Gallery for images from Eurospeedway.
RACE 1:
1. Haga (Yamaha);
2. Biaggi (Suzuki);
3. Corser (Yamaha);
4. Bayliss (Ducati);
5. Rolfo (Honda);
6. Laconi (Kawasaki);
7. Nieto (Kawasaki);
8. Lanzi (Ducati).
9. Toseland (Honda),
10 Muggeridge (Honda).
RACE 2:
1. Bayliss;
2. Haga;
3. Biaggi;
4. Toseland (Honda);
5. Corser;
6. Xaus (Ducati);
7. Rolfo;
8. Nieto.
9. Neukirchner (Suzuki),
10 Muggeridge
Ducati Xerox WSBK
Troy Bayliss (Ducati Xerox) bounced back from his race 1 defeat to take a thrilling victory from Yamaha's Noriyuki Haga in the German Round of the World Superbike Championship at the EuroSpeedway. In the first 24-lap encounter Troy made all the running until half-distance, but tyre problems meant that he was passed by Haga and then by Max Biaggi (Suzuki) and Troy Corser (Yamaha) four laps from the end, finishing fourth. The second race was showing a similar pattern to the first as Haga again passed Troy on lap 14 to take the lead, but this time the team had fitted a harder front tyre to his 999, which certainly contributed to the result, and Troy was then able to re-pass his Japanese rival on lap 20 to take the chequered flag for his fortieth Superbike win.
"These wins are hard to get but when you do take one they are very enjoyable, so I'm very happy with that second race today" declared Troy. "I've been racing against Nori since year 2000 and we've had some great battles over the past, they've all been very memorable. Sometimes he takes the win or I do but I love having a dice with Nori. Honestly there wasn't much difference between the bikes in the two races, sometimes you have a problem and it goes like that. We weren't happy with the first race and you could tell the difference in the second race because the bike was better to ride. It did look like the same was going to happen as I opened out a lead of 2 and a half seconds, and I did wonder that but it didn't and I could push the whole race. I did make one mistake and that allowed Nori to come past. I was on the limit trying to gap Nori and it wasn't easy. It was nice to have my electronics engineer Alessandra on the podium with me, she does all the stuff with the computer and she did a great job as always!".
Lorenzo Lanzi scored a couple of disappointing results at a circuit where he won in 2005, with the only really positive moment being when he overtook Toseland for eighth on the final lap of the first race. "Every time I come and race here, it seems that my performance gets worse instead of better and I am unable to explain why. For me it seems that it's a bit of a lottery every time I have to chose the tyres" commented Lorenzo. "The first five laps went well, then the tyres began to create problems for me. After that I had to keep a ridiculous pace, much slower than what I was expecting to do, and the results were not at all satisfactory: eighth place in race 1 and twelfth in race 2, fighting to the end. I don't know what to say, behind I had the same tyre as Troy, up front a slightly less hard one, but I was unable to stay amongst the front-runners".
Kawasaki Racing WSBK
The week end finished with a satisfying final result for the Kawasaki PSG-1 Corse team on Eurospeedway Lausitz track in Germany. Both Fonsi Nieto and Regis Laconi have been protagonists of the two races ending the day with a good global result after the great Superpole of Saturday. In the first day Laconi could have reached the 4th position, but the bad start made him loose some positions. Fonsi too fought with determination showing that the team’s work his starting to reward him.
FONSI NIETO:
“It has been a difficult week end despite my first pole position in SBK. Reaching the 7th and the 8th position starting in front of all the others is not what I wanted but I had some electrical problems in race 1 which made me loose 4 positions in the straight in just 1 lap. I reached anyway a good result. We solved these problems for race 2 but I still had a bike quite difficult to manage which really made me quite exhausted and I have not been able to do better. Globally the week end has been positive for the team together with Regis’ results”.
REGIS LACONI:
“Considering this morning’s warm up I thought things could go very bad. We had the same chattering as always but thank to Öhlins support we made some modifications and things really changed. The bike became easier to manage and I reached a good race pace. It’ s a pity I did a mistake in the start which made me loose some positions otherwise I could reach the 4th position. I left to fast the clutch and the engine almost stopped. Then I began to gain positions and I found a good race pace until the end. At 3 laps from the finish I skidded and I was near to go straight in the last bend before the finish straight. That made me loose some positions again and at the end I finished at the 11th place”.
Alstare Corona Suzuki WSBK
Team Alstare Suzuki Corona Extra rider Max Biaggi took podiums in both 24-lap World Superbike races at the Eurospeedway Lausitz today with second and third places.
Yukio Kagayama was unable to take part due to a hand injury sustained yesterday: His wrist was badly swollen this morning so he went to the Clinica Mobile this morning for a check-up. X-rays of his right wrist revealed that he had a fracture of his fifth metacarpal and so was unable to race.
Troy Bayliss (Ducati) and Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) led the charge in the first race, but later on Haga took advantage of his opponent's tyre problems and pulled away finishing the clear winner 11 seconds ahead of Biaggi.
Bayliss and Haga once again charged off into the distance at the start of race two but this time Bayliss was in no mood to surrender: He took the chequered flag just over a second ahead of Haga with Biaggi third and series leader James Toseland (Honda) fourth.
Max Biaggi - Race 1: 2nd, Race 2: 3rd:
"It is always good to be on the podium though I'm a little disappointed that I didn't finish higher up in race two. It was a much faster race and the two guys in front kept up a better pace and I could not catch them. After two days of weather that was not so good, it was a relief that it didn't rain today. Our set-up for the dry wasn't so bad but maybe it wasn't quite as good as Bayliss or Haga today. I had a few little problems with the bike missing gears a couple of times and so I modified my riding to get round the problem. Both my starts today were not so bad but once the I lost touch with the leader in race one and the two of them in race two, it was too late."
Yamaha Motor Italia WSBK
The weather was kind to the World Superbike Championship today as the rain disappeared and the sun came out while Haga and Corser took three podiums between them; one on each step of the podium. Haga took the win in race one and rounded it up with a second place in race two, while Corser finished third in the first race and fifth in the second.
Race one started well for Haga as he went from eighth to second in the first few laps. Undeterred by the gap that Bayliss had created between first and second, Haga just put his head down and reduced the margin lap by lap until the two riders were tyre to tyre on lap 14. Haga made his move on the next lap with a traditional Haga-style close pass and then just kept going. He finished the race a clear 11 seconds ahead of the rest of the field; his fourth win of the season.
Corser got off to a poor start in race one, almost high-siding in the second corner, and he slid back to ninth before turning the power back on and making way up through the field again. By lap eight he had made his way to fourth position and was hunting down Biaggi 6.2 seconds ahead in third. By lap 18 the gap had reduced to nothing and Corser tried valiantly to pass Biaggi In the end he had to settle for third as his tyres wore off.
The second race of the day got off to a mixed start with Corser dropping to sixth and Haga climbing to fifth. Haga wasted no time in passing through the field to once again chase down lead-man Bayliss. Corser meanwhile was challenging Xaus for fifth; a challenge he won going into the first turn. He then focused on finding a way past Toseland for fourth place; a battle which was to last the rest of the race with the riders in the order in which they had begun.
By lap nine Haga and Bayliss were dicing with each other and, on lap 14, a mistake by Bayliss gave Haga the chance he was looking for and he grabbed it to take the race lead. But, four laps from the end Bayliss managed to get past Haga, who was forced to settle for second.
Today's results have boosted Haga's second place standing; he is now only 41 points behind first with two rounds still to go.
Noriyuki Haga (1st and 2nd - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"I feel happy with my result in both races today. The first race was the perfect result; even though my tyre started to wear off I was able to take the win. I made a minor suspension change for race two but then didn't get as good a start as I wanted because of a small mistake. This meant I had to use more rear tyre during the race to chase and challenge Bayliss. Towards the end the tyre started sliding and I just couldn't keep up the pace with Troy. Today has reduced the margin on my championship challenge; it has given me more potential to win and I'm now feeling more focused than ever and I'm going to push right to the end for the title. I'd like to thank the team and Öhlins for all their efforts in getting the bike working right this weekend."
Troy Corser (3rd and 5th - Yamaha Motor Italia WSB Team)
"The first race was pretty good, although I didn't get off the line very well and had to then work hard to get back up the front. The bike was handling very well but I just couldn't get past Max for second place. We made quite a few changes to the bike for the second race and made some handling alterations. It made an improvement and I was all over Toseland in the corners. Overall I'm a bit disappointed with my results because I was expecting better. The chassis was really well this weekend and I'm confident for the next race at Vallelunga."
Team YZF Yamaha WSBK
Team Yamaha YZF rider Shinichi Nakatomi had a good day's racing taking 11th in race one and 15th in race two. Race one was the highlight of the day for the young Japanese rider and he takes six points away with him.
Shinichi Nakatomi (11th and 15th - Team Yamaha YZF)
"I'm very happy with both results this weekend but mostly I'm happy about the first race result. The bike feels good and we are improving every race. I'm looking forward to seeing our results at Vallelunga now." |
